Strategy
This page is about general strategies that apply to most/all factions. For strategies specific to each faction, see that particular faction's page. The standard way to win is to break bases on your turn with you in first place. This may sound obvious and simplistic, but it is easy to lose sight of, especially when your factions are capable of seemingly-powerful plays such as destroying enemy minions. If your factions can directly earn victory points (Aliens, Ghosts, Minions of Cthulhu), do that too. But again, the most important thing to do is to score bases on your turn with you in first place. Your strategy needs to take into account the factions you're playing, the factions your opponents are playing, and the bases currently in play. While this may also seem obvious and simplistic, each of these three things should play important and subtle roles in your strategy. For example, you should know whether or not it's possible for you to ever play multiple actions in one turn, and how to do it. You should know whether or not your opponents can destroy your actions, and how many cards do they have with that ability. There are also some bases which have a significant effect on the game, such as Mushroom Kingdom, that you should stay aware of when deciding what to do on your turn. Choosing a Base to Play On First and most importantly, you should be aware of the bases with really significant abilities. These include Mushroom Kingdom, Cave of Shinies, The Homeworld, The Central Brain, Secret Grove, and others. Many of these base's abilities lend them to being easily broken, which means if you're not playing there right away, you may get left out when the base breaks. If another player has started playing on a base, you should probably play there too to prepare for a Big Drop (see below) and to prevent an Inevitable Landslide. However, if all the bases are empty, read on. Take into account any base with an ability that matters before it's scored, such as Inventor's Salon vs The Dread Gazebo. Cross check the base abilities against the factions that you and your opponents are playing. Bases are more attractive if they favor your strategy and are hostile to your opponents strategy. Next look at the VP rewards of the bases in play. Bases are more attractive that have a 2-point delta between first and second place, such as 4 2 1 as opposed to 3 2 1. Bases with a higher first-place prize are more attractive, with a 5+ VP reward being especially prized. Since a game is to only 15 points, a 5-point prize is 1/3 of the game. Next look at the breakpoints of the bases in play. Bases with lower breakpoints are more attractive because they are easier to break, and will probably give you more VPs per card you play there. Pay special attention to Tar Pits which has a peculiarly high VP-to-breakpoint ratio. Finally, consider the abilities of the bases that reward the winner after the base breaks. This is usually not very important, and you shouldn't rely on it, since you are not guaranteed to get it. Breaking a Base There are several general approaches to breaking a base. The Big Drop This is the easiest way to break a base. It involves playing a huge amount of power in one turn to break a base suddenly, e.g. from maybe 9 existing power to playing 12 power on your turn to break the base at 21 power. High-powered minions are valuable for this (King Rex, General Ivan, etc.) as well as actions that either boost power (Augmentation, Aggromotive, Dunwich Horror, etc.), or allow you to play extra minions (Commission, Summon, etc.). When preparing for the Big Drop, be careful not to put too much power on a base before you're ready, or else someone else will beat you to it. Since the Big Drop is the easiest strategy, most players will be going for it as well. This means playing minions on a new base tends to be a game of hesitation, each player slowly adding small amounts of power, hoping they have a bigger drop planned than their opponents suspect. A rookie mistake is to play too much power on a base without breaking it, such that your opponent can play a relatively low amount of power (say 5 power) to both break the base and win first place. The Inevitable Landslide An alternative to the Big Drop is gaining such a huge lead on a base, your opponents feel powerless to surpass you. In a two player game, this can often lead to the base stagnating as it is, both players waiting for the other to spend a minion to finally break the base and bring about the inevitable conclusion. If one player or the other has particularly disruptive abilities (destroying, returning to hands, etc.), their opponent will be more motivated to be the one to spend the minion to ensure the safety of their position on the base. In a three or four player game, the base will break quickly as players clamber for second place. The Bait and Switch This strategy is a bit tricky to set up. It involves building up a presence on bases you don't intend to break, and then suddenly moving the minions on your turn to break a base your opponents did not suspect, preferably alone. Valuable abilities are Talent moves (Captain Ahab, Zeppelin, Snow White, etc.) and multi-move actions (Dinghy, Sea Dogs, Invisible Bicycle, etc.). This is really a variation on the Big Drop above, so any abilities that help there will help here as well. This strategy is vulnerable to opponents destroying your minions before you can move them to the goal, which makes defensive abilities helpful (Incorporeal, Wildlife Preserve, Smoke Bomb, etc.). Slow and Discouraging This is the least effective way to break bases, but can help buy you time to farm VPs from special abilities. The idea is that you want to prevent a base from breaking either indefinitely or until you have time to play enough power to win first place. Helpful abilities reduce minion power (Sleep Spores, Enchantment, Hissy Fit, etc.), clearing off minions from a base (Crop Circles, Nukebot, Complete the Ritual, etc.), or discouraging opponents from continuing to play on a base where they are already somewhat invested (Leprechaun, Pay the Piper, Furthering the Cause, etc.). Keep in mind that if you need to contribute 7 minions to break the base, you're probably working too hard for too little. Typically, you want your opponents to help you break bases so that you don't need to spend so many cards for only 3-5 VP. If you discourage your opponents from playing on one base, they will probably abandon their minions there and start focusing on a different base instead, so watch out for other bases breaking without you on them. How to Use Abilities Effectively While a minion's ability may seem significant, don't forget that the minion's power is probably more significant, because breaking bases is the best way to earn VPs. Destroying Enemy Minions Destroying enemy minions seems like a very powerful ability, but never lose sight of the real goal of the game: to earn VPs (I'm lookin' at you, Bear Cavalry). That said, there are times when it is beneficial to destroy enemy minions and also times when it is counterproductive to do so. Destroying enemy minions is very effective at preventing the Bait and Switch above, so don't underestimate how valuable it can be to destroy a lone minion on a base that seems to be doing no harm. You should know if your opponents are capable of the Bait and Switch (Steampunks, Pirates, etc.) and be particularly aggressive toward them if they seem to be building up for that strategy. Also, if you're playing against a faction that can't play extra minions very well (Dinosaurs, Super Spies, etc.), destroying their lonely minions can be significant setbacks in their plan to build up power. It's not always productive to destroy minions in a Big Drop situation. When breaking a base, it's actually helpful for your opponents to contribute some of the power as long as you still get the first place prize. This can make mandatory destroying abilities such as Laseratops and Microbot Guard counterproductive to your strategy. Destroying enemy minions with powerful ongoing abilities is often a good idea. If someone leaves a Microbot Fixer, Archmage, Water Lily, etc. unguarded, those minions are often good candidates for being destroyed, but destroying a minion is only one way to get rid of their ongoing abilities. Don't forget that breaking a base will also remove them from play, so allowing the minion to help you break a base with a Big Drop can be just as effective as destroying the minion, if not more so. (Of course, that doesn't work against First Mates, which makes them particularly high priority targets for destruction.) Destroying enemy minions can be a good way to affect an Inevitable Landslide situation. If your opponent thinks they are safe with a single power 3 minion on your base, try to destroy them and break the base in one turn. If you can't do both at once, it's probably not worth destroying the minion, as they will surely restore their position with another minion on their turn. However, if you are the underdog, it's valuable to chip away at your opponent's lead by destroying their minions there. This makes them uneasy about their lead, forcing them to spend cards to break the base themselves, or even reduce their power so much to allow you to take the base with a Big Drop. Destroying Your Own Minions While obviously not recommended in general, there are some abilities that make it beneficial to destroy your own minions. The most obvious example is Cave of Shinies, but remember that breaking the base will still probably give you more VPs than tediously farming 1 VP per turn. If you must destroy your own minions because of the requirement on card text (Sacrifice, Whiskers, etc.), the best minion to destroy is an opponent's minion that you have gained control over temporarily (Cat's Paw, Muffin, etc.). You want these minions to die, because otherwise control of them will be handed back to opponents. Note that even Make Contact is temporary if your opponents can destroy actions played on minions. If you cannot control minions, your next priority should be to target an indestructible minion such as Warbot. Note that Incorporeal and similar abilities will not protect you from suicide. Also note that sometimes card text requires the minion to actually die, such as Elder Thing under some interpretations. Next, try to choose a minion that has some benefit when killed, such as Igor or Gremlin. Then try to choose a minion that doesn't stay dead for long, such as Tenacious Z or Jumper. If all else fails, you might want to reconsider the suicide. For the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. But if you really are intent on sacrificing one of your minions, I suppose you should choose a weak one. Moving Your Minions Moving around is not necessary for the Big Drop or Inevitable Landslide strategies, but it is the basis for the Bait and Switch strategy, and can be used to recover from someone using the Slow and Discouraging strategy on you. Moving Enemy Minions Moving enemy minions is a somewhat rare ability that can be advantageous when used appropriately. You can remove your opponent's presence from your Inevitable Landslide setup to break the base alone, or move some of your opponents minions to reinforce his or her second-place position, thereby wasting the minions. There are also some special case uses for moving opponents minions: * Removing a Leprechaun from a base you are trying to break. * Moving a Secret Agent to a base you are trying to break to get him out of the game. * Disrupting a group of synergizing minions and actions (War Raptors, Steam Man, etc.). * If there are minions that benefit from bases breaking (Scout, Tenacious Z, Spectre, etc.), move them to undesirable bases, where they will hopefully remain useless. Many players familiarizing themselves with the Bear Cavalry attempt to setup elaborate death traps involving moving opponents' minions to a Cub Scout or to High Ground, but this is usually a distraction that will ultimately result in losing the game. Spending several cards and turns to destroy a few minions is not how you win Smash Up. Of course there are cases where these setups are advantageous, but never lose sight of the real goal of earning VPs.